For the SD300, two minor modifications have been made to the basic interface
Canon uses on most of its digital cameras. The first is aimed at drawing
the attention of the user when a change is made to any of the functions
that can be set using the 4 arrows of the 4-direction controller.
For example, pressing the left
arrow while the camera is set to a capture mode cycles through
the Macro mode, then the Landscape mode. To draw
the attention of the user to the change in setting, the interface
first displays the the selection in a large size on the screen,
then moves it to its normal position amongst the other icons
that indicate current camera settings.
The animation, although simple is effective and should prevent an accidental
setting change from occurring unnoticed.
The second deviation from the standard
interface is the addition of a clock mode, called up when
the FUNC./SET button is held pressed for a couple of seconds.
Although this addition is not critical to the operation of the
camera, it is a nice touch.
As explained in the Characteristics section of the review, the menu
of the SD300 is composed of three sections. The first section is directly
related to the mode in use (Capture or Playback) while the other 2 are
common to all modes. The second section, Setup, serves to set the
basic configuration of the camera:
Mute: On or Off, turns off all sounds produced by
the SD300.
Volume allows setting the volume for camera sounds
over 5 steps or Off:
Start-up sound,
Operation sound,
Self-timer sound,
Shutter sound,
Playback Volume.
LCD Brightness: serves to adjust the brightness
of the LCD monitor over 14 steps.
Power Saving: On or Off. Serves to set the delay
before the camera automatically powers down, and the delay
before the LCD monitor turns off after a period of inactivity
(10, 20, or 30 seconds, or 1, 2, or 3 minutes).
Date and Time: to set the time and date on the SD300.
Clock Display: sets the on-screen time for the clock
display (from 0 seconds to 3 minutes).
Format: serves to format the SD memory card.
File Number Reset: On or Off. Decides whether or
not images are numbered consecutively at all times (Off),
or restart from 1 whenever the card is emptied, formatted,
or a new card is used.
Auto Rotate: On or Off. Decides whether or not the
camera will keep track of the orientation of images and automatically
present them rotated in playback.
Language: English, German, French, Dutch, Danish,
Finnish, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish, Spanish, Simplified
Chinese, Russian, Portuguese, Greek, Polish, Czech, Hungarian,
Turkish, Traditional Chinese, Korean or Japanese. Worth noting,
although the language selection option can be accessed in
the SETUP menu when the camera is in Playback mode, a short
cut to the Language selection screen is also available by
holding the FUNC. SET button and pressing the MENU button.
Video System: selects the video output signal, NTSC
or PAL.
Canon provides a printed manual with the SD300. The manual is
compact but concise, covering every aspect of the camera and
its functions, and its explanations are usually easy to understand.
The manual is thorough, and even includes a section on how to
print directly to a compatible printer, providing step by step
instructions.
Software
Two discs are included with the PowerShot SD300. One is
Canon's Digital
Camera Solution Disk (version 21.0) which contains:
ZoomBrowser EX 5.0 (for Windows)
ImageBrowser 5.0 (for Macintosh)
PhotoStitch 3.1 (for Windows and Macintosh)
PhotoRecord 2.1 (Windows only)
all the drivers for older Operating Systems, and Apple QuickTime to
view movies captured with the SD300.
ZoomBrowser is a multi-purpose
program that has had time to mature and develop into an easy
to use and reliable tool for organizing, printing, exporting
(including exporting shooting properties), e-mailing images,
and even controlling the camera remotely.
Photos are displayed as scalable thumbnails, and the contents of folders
are presented so that tiny thumbnails of the photos they contain are shown
too, making it very easy to locate a particular photo or subject.
Shooting data is also easily seen,
and depending on the view mode in use (Zoom mode, Scroll mode,
or Preview mode) can be shown in a separate window or alongside
the image. ZoomBrowser's editing functions make it possible to
adjust brightness, saturation and contrast of images, or their
RGB colour balance. The main editing window can show the image
being worked on at a variety of sizes, and a Navigator window
is provided to move around easily on the image.
ZoomBrowser can also be used to start PhotoStitch, although
it is a stand alone program. PhotoStitch is designed to assemble
sequences of photos that were captured to create a panoramic
image.
The second CD offers ArcSoft Camera Suite 1.3 which contains two
programs, both of which are compatible with Windows and Macintosh.
PhotoImpression5 is automatically linked to ZoomBrowser during
its installation, so that it can be accessed as an alternative image editor.
PhotoImpression provides generally
rudimentary editing functions, but still offers a lasso tool
which makes it possible to apply modifications to selected portions
of an image. Moreover, the program offers tools to add frames,
or text to photos, or print them in a calendar format.
VideoImpression 2, the second program in the suite, serves to edit
video clips recorded with the SD300. Clips can be combined, still images
can be blended into video clips, sound, including music, can be added,
and the the creation can be recorded to VCD or DVD.
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Interface & Software
